Creating a Culture for Innovation and Risk Taking in Transformative Times

The Great Recession challenged philanthropic organizations, as well as their partners and grantees, to balance fewer resources with greater needs. By tightly focusing on strategy, foundations may have unintentionally limited experimentation and bolder action. Today the country is still addressing broad economic and fiscal challenges, and philanthropy, government, and the private sector stand at a juncture where opportunity looms much larger. Following are three funder perspectives on how each organization is approaching innovation and risk taking.